French court to rule on Lafarge funding of Syria jihadists

A Paris court will deliver its verdict on Monday in the case of cement conglomerate Lafarge, accused of paying the Islamic State group and other jihadists protection money to maintain its business in war-torn Syria.

The ruling follows a 2022 case in the United States in which the French firm pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to US-designated "terrorist" organisations and agreed to pay a $778-million fine, in what was the first time a corporation had faced the charge.

In the French case, Lafarge -- which has since been acquired by Swiss conglomerate Holcim -- is accused of paying millions of dollars in 2013 and 2014, via its subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS), to jihadist groups and intermediaries to keep its plant operating in northern Syria.

Lafarge had finished building a $680-million factory in Jalabiya in 2010, before Syria's civil war erupted in March the following year amid opposition to then-president Bashar al-Assad's brutal repression of anti-government protests.

IS jihadists seized large swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, declaring a so-called cross-border "caliphate" and implementing their brutal interpretation of Islamic law.

While other multinational companies left Syria in 2012, Lafarge evacuated only its expatriate employees and left its Syrian staff in place until September 2014, when IS jihadists seized control of the factory.

In 2013 and 2014, LCS allegedly paid intermediaries to access raw materials from the Islamic State organisation and other groups and to allow free movement for the company's trucks and employees.

It allegedly paid jihadists including the Islamic State group and Syria's then Al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra.

- 'Single aim: profit' -

Defendants include Lafarge, its former chief Bruno Lafont, five ex-members of operational and security staff, and two Syrian intermediaries. One of the Syrians was not present during the trial.

They are accused of "funding terrorism" and violating international sanctions.

The French national counter-terrorism prosecutor's office (PNAT) said in its closing argument in December that Lafarge was guilty of financing "terrorist" organisations with "a single aim: profit".

Prosecutors sought the maximum fine against Lafarge of 1.12 million euros ($1.3 million) and a confiscation of assets amounting to 30 million euros.

They also requested a six-year term for Lafont, who denies any awareness of illicit payments.

Prosecutors said the 69-year-old "gave clear instructions" to keep the plant operation in a decision they described as "staggering in its cynicism".

During the trial, Christian Herrault, a former deputy managing director, said that the decision to keep the factory open was made over concern for local staff.

"We could have washed our hands of it and walked away, but what would have happened to the factory's employees?" he said.

Payment to groups designated as "terrorist" organisations amounted to at least 4.7 million euros ($5.5 million), according to PNAT.

- 'Biased' -

Holcim, which took over Lafarge in 2015, has said it had no knowledge of the Syria dealings.

A second case, concerning allegations of complicity in crimes against humanity, is ongoing.

Kurdish-led Syrian fighters, backed by US air strikes, defeated the IS "caliphate" in 2019.

An inquiry was opened in France in 2017 after several media reports and two legal complaints in 2016, one from the finance ministry for the alleged breaching of an economic sanction and another from non-governmental groups and 11 former LCS staff members over alleged "funding of terrorism".

In the US case, the Justice Department said Lafarge sought the Islamic State group's help to squeeze out competitors, operating an effective "revenue sharing agreement" with them.

Lafont, who was chief executive from 2007 to 2015 when Lafarge merged with Holcim, at the time denounced the inquiry as "biased".